Sustainable Sourcing: How to Spot Greenwashing and Close Key Data Gaps in Fashion
CFC Member Spotlight: Rachael Guiles
Author and interviewer: Stella Hertantyo
Rachael Guiles is a sustainability and sourcing specialist who is passionate about supply chain transparency. With expertise in project management and data analysis, she's spent over six years working in apparel, from product development to inventory allocation and everything in between.
I interviewed Rachael in the Conscious Fashion Collective Membership as part of our Member Spotlight interview series.
Below are some of the highlights from the conversation, including:
How to analyze sustainability claims to ensure they aren’t greenwashing,
The biggest data gaps in sustainable fashion, and
How sustainable fashion brands can collect their data to tell the story of their impact.
What led you to work at the intersection of fashion and sustainability?
I’m not one of those people who has known what they want to do since they were a kid. I had a lot of hobbies, and exploring clothing and thrifting were two of them. When it came time to decide what to major in in college, choosing something in a fashion-related field seemed like the obvious choice. So I studied fashion merchandising.
About a year in, I had a moment of panic and doubt. I realized that this was not what I wanted to do, but knowing the costs of higher education, I decided to see it through. What caused the moment of doubt was the realization that capitalism is engrained in everything and as a result of this, so is consumerism. Overconsumption is at the center of so many of our societal ills.
After deciding to see my degree through, I made a promise to myself that I would find a way to turn my degree into a force for good — not just an extension of our consumerist culture. That’s how I found myself in the sustainable fashion space.
What do you look for when analyzing a brand’s sustainability claims to ensure that they’re accurate and aren’t greenwashing?
Most textile and apparel companies I’ve worked for rely on certifications. So I’ll start with how to fact-check certifications to make sure they aren’t greenwashing. Certifications are good to a certain extent but they aren't all-encompassing, which brands tend to forget.
A certification can start with a scope certificate. A scope certificate states that a vendor is capable of making a specific kind of product. For example, a scope certificate might say 100% cotton T-shirts or pants. All factories need to have a scope certificate. When you're working with a factory, you need to make sure they always have an updated scope certificate. This is the first step in making sure greenwashing isn’t happening.
Then there’s a transaction certificate that will state that the goods were made at that specific factory. It assures buyers about the authenticity of a specific product batch. This happens a few months after the products are made.
So when I’m analyzing a brand to make sure that their certification claims hold true, I spend a lot of time looking at these certificates, fact-checking, and making sure that what is said on the certificate matches the product.
Beyond certifications, broadly speaking, I always advise brands to be as specific as possible when sharing anything about their brand. Greenwashing thrives amongst vagueness. For example, don’t say “sustainable cotton”, rather say “100% organically grown cotton”. Then consumers will have a clearer understanding of what you mean and you can build trust with them.
What is the biggest data gap in sustainable fashion?
Labor is an element of fashion that is too often forgotten when we talk about data. When I think about the biggest data gap, I always come back to the need for equity and for garment workers to be paid a livable wage.
In sourcing, I've worked with something called a “cost card”. Cost cards are common practice amongst brands. They break down the exact cost of a garment, from fabric to trims and labor.
From looking at a cost card, you can figure out how much a garment worker is being paid. You’d need to do a lot of digging to understand how many hands the garment has gone through, but there are ways to compare this to audits and make sure that garment workers are being paid fairly.
We need to make sure that there is equity in the supply chain. We can begin to do this by looking at the data that is right in front of us and questioning it, reading between the lines, and using it to advocate for a fairer fashion industry.
What kinds of data would you advise sustainable fashion brands to collect to tell the story of their impact?
To understand what data to use to tell the story of your impact, you have to go back and look at your mission and vision statement. These statements guide what you hope to achieve as a brand. From there, you can decide what data is needed to support your mission and vision.
One of the brands I worked for was focused on cotton. So a lot of their data-driven storytelling focused on the transition cotton they were using and how they were supporting farms and factories.
I say begin with the mission and vision, because trying to collect data on everything that you do all at once can be overwhelming. To start, focus on collecting high-quality data for one or two key impact areas in your brand or business. Put most of your energy into this for two years and understand the impact you have made. Then you can branch out and expand your data collection methods.
What is your advice for how to vet factories when you can’t afford to visit or audit the factory yourself, but want to prioritize ethics, sustainability, and compliance?
Even if you can’t physically visit a factory, there are certain red flags to look out for. Factories should have up-to-date information and certificates on hand to show you. If they aren’t supplying information you are asking for, regarding their sustainability claims, or giving excuses — those are huge red flags.
I say this with one caveat: not everyone speaks English as their first language. When communicating with a factory, it’s important to speak plainly and make sure you’re not using jargon that is hard to understand or specific to the country that you come from. Make sure you are precise and clear.
You can also look into doing a remote audit that you can be present for. These became popularized in the pandemic and are still happening.
At the end of the day, you need to ask the right questions and trust your gut.
What are a few of your favorite ways to ensure you are tracking industry research, keeping up with the latest innovations, and using this to recommend sustainability best practices?
One of my favorite tools is to use Google Alerts. I have a list of keywords relating to sustainable fashion that I have created Google Alerts for so that I receive all the news items relating to those keywords straight to my inbox.
You’re also a passionate mental health advocate. What are a few ways that we can incorporate wellbeing and mental health priorities into business structures and workplaces?
The good news is that it’s quite simple. It starts with making sure that folks are being paid appropriately for the work that they're doing, that you have enough staff so that people aren’t always overworked, and that they have benefits and robust paid time off policies. You also need to develop a company culture where people feel they can speak up and share their thoughts.
A lot of workplaces assume that hosting employee socials is the solution, but that’s just a band-aid. If you make sure people are being paid fairly and have basic needs met, everything else will follow suit.
Once you have these fundamental structures in place, then you can start thinking about setting up affinity groups or employee resource groups that are focused on mental health and speaking out about it. But, you have to lay the right foundations for this first.
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To connect with Rachael and get featured in one of our Member Spotlights join the Conscious Fashion Collective Membership, the online community for sustainable fashion professionals and entrepreneurs. You'll also get access to live events, workshop recordings, career resources, and more.